May 30, 2006

Adventures in Amplitude Modulation - Part 18

After doing almost twenty posts in this series, my impulse is to assume
that by now readers who are interested in shortwave and AM DXing are
following this blog thread, and others are passing it by for less geeky content on the WFMU blog. But in case you've just come across one of these posts for the first time and you're curious, I'll quickly mention again what's going on here.

Listening to the old broadcast bands for information, sport or adventure isn't so popular in this U.S. these days, for many reasons.
And since I’ve started writing these posts, I can count on one hand the number of
people I’ve talked to about DXing who can more than
feign an interest in listening to lo-fi audio signals from faraway places. I mean,
if you experience your media from cable TV and/or through a speedy multimedia computer with a
broadband connection, why should you care about complicated
radios that offer sputtering static, strange noises, and people
speaking in all sorts of languages you don’t understand?

For better or worse, some of us still have fun with this old technology. While it’s easy to be
overwhelmed by so MUCH radio content available today– besides AM &
FM, there’s internet and satellite radio and many thousands of podcasts
flooding the mediasphere every week. However, there's a minority out here who continue to
listen to radio the hard way and test the capabilities of our
receivers. And with shortwave, it’s remains the only way to hear direct
communications from distant countries without somehow going through
some corporate communication infrastructure. And you throw in the
entertainment value of Christian kooks who have infested the U.S.
shortwave frequencies, and a few clandestine operators and shortwave pirates lurking about, you’ve got an eclectic, and often exotic, mix of programming to sample that you'd
probably never hear any other way. And it’s important to mention
that what has become a fringe medium in America, is still a very
popular and important way to hear news, information and music in the
developing world.

During the cold war, back in the days before the world wide web, there
was no way to hear the OTHER side, except on shortwave. Now we have
other strange political and economic forces that are again dividing up
our world, and creating many “others” who have disagreements with the
west, especially the U.S. (For example, the English language programming on Radio Habana Cuba is NOT available on the internet.) If you REALLY want to balance your news and
information intake these days, shortwave is STILL a good way to go. And
your listening habits will not be logged or noticed by John Poindexter,
or any of his friends. Something to think about.

Anyway, if happen to be curious about DXing or shortwave you might want to check out some of the earlier posts in this series– not just for my rambling, but there’s plenty of good links along the way that will lead you to a lot of information provided by people with more wisdom and experience with this subject matter.

As I’ve written here recently, I’m still fooling around with my new receiver, a Degen 1103. I was finally was able to record a couple of decent shortwave dial scans with it. Not fascinating samples of international broadcasting, but viable samples of shortwave reception from the middle of this massive megalopolis. Scroll down for some MP3s from a scan of the 41 meter band from last Friday.

It’s been several months since I’ve had a chance to do some DXing without struggling with the dense radio noise floor of city life. But next weekend I’m going to spend a couple days 100 miles or so north of New York, and I look forward to lots of silence between frequencies and hopefully pulling in some stations I’ve never heard before.

And in this dial scan you’ll hear some of the RF noise you can’t escape on AM and shortwave around here. After a couple weeks of playing with this portable, I can tell you that twirling the tuning knob of the Degen 1103 IS similar to an analog setup. However, as I mentioned in the last post there are some quirky digital artifacts audible as you move through the numbers. And what I’ve also noticed is that some RF noise is just WORSE with this digital receiver. It’s like a nasty buzz or roar coming out of the speaker gets an added jagged digital edge that even grates on MY nerves, and I’m fairly immune to the static, buzzes and crashes inherent in shortwave listening.

All that said, there have been some nights when I’ve had a few minutes to step outside and quickly skip through the bands, and this little Degen just throbs with reception across the dial. It’ll be nice to sit out on that porch upstate and take some time to find out what’s out there.

And lastly, I’d like to solicit some readers of this blog series for some audio content. While I’ll continue to post my own radio recordings here, I’d like to have a wider variety to offer. If you have some interesting shortwave or AM DX recordings to share OR have the ability to make some I might be able to use here, please send me an email. Off the top of my head, here’s some of the kinds of radio recordings I’d be very interested in checking out for possible inclusion here:

1. Historic shortwave recordings. Any compelling shortwave radio from the past, especially from the cold war era and before. Strange, historic, or rare recordings would be nice, but not necessary. Please include ID’s of stations or logs if you have them.

2. Interesing shortwave or AM radio (or long wave) recordings from around the country or the world. ID’s or logs would be very helpful. Let me know what you have, or can get.

3. Dial scans. Anybody with a decent receiver who can scan the bands from other parts of the country or the world, it would be great if you could offer a sampling of what can be heard where you are, or have been. I would prefer if you would spend some time on interesting broadcasts you come across, and again logs for these recordings would be ideal. I’d like to get some AM dial scans of the AM dial from other areas of North America especially. It would be nice to get complete journey’s of the dial, from 530 or 540, up toward 1700 kHz. Contact me if you have questions or ideas. Any dial scans from decades ago would be VERY welcome here.

I can’t promise I’ll use anything for sure, but it would be great if you could offer your listening experiences for consideration. Ideally, I’d like it to be in an mp3 format I could snatch from you over the internet, but CD’s or cassettes via snail mail would be fine as well. If I could just get even a few DXers to regularly contribute it would really add a lot to this series. I’ll certainly credit you if I post your recordings. If you think you might be able to offer something, please DO send me an email, via this webpage.

Meanwhile, here’s a partial scan of the 41 meter band I recorded here on the scenic deck of WFMU in Jersey City last Friday just after 7 p.m. (2300 UTC). There is some raw noise from time to time and reception wasn’t fantastic, but there was a variety of international content in between the domestic bible bangers. And here’s what it sounded like...

Oh boy. You hear this kind of thing a lot on Christian shortwave, a dramatization of bible “history.” Typically, these are “news” constructs, with a make-believe correspondent at the
crucifixion or something. But this is different. It’s a soap opera (or sitcom) set at the VERY beginning of humanity. And in this clip you’ll hear the first quarrel EVER. I guess that’s what can happen if you ascend to a higher state of existence-- You can disagree.

In mainstream monotheistic theology, it’s how we “fell from grace.” Apparently, Adam and Eve could have frolicked forever in happy-go-lucky ignorance, but a certain snake came along and led them to snack on the fruit that imparted them with the weighty knowledge of good and evil. Oops. I guess one way to piss off a power hungry supernatural being is just to get smarter.

The Gnostics, on the other hand, had a completely differentinterpretation of this story. They saw this act of rebellion against god as the first act of human salvation against a cruel and oppressive creator. And the snake-- a GOOD guy. While I don’t personally look for guidance from bible myths and allegories, the Gnostic interpretation of this narrative makes a lot more sense to me.

As I said, these reenactments are popular fodder on religious shortwave stations. I guess these religious dramas make the bible more REAL for believers. And you wondered why the fundamentalists are so frightened by that DaVinci code movie. Fictional entertainment. It’s powerful stuff.

And my god, the AWFUL noise scanning out of this frequency.

9415 - Radio Prague

VERY faint. A song and a lotta noise. Not really listenable.

9420 - Voice of Greece.

A slightly anthemic pop song. Female singer. Greek I assume.

9500 - Radio Bulgaria

Extremely faint. Scanned right past it.

9525 - Radio Netherlands

With all the monks and reverb that popey sound in the background, I figured it was EWTN. But, perhaps it’s a documentary feature on Catholics. I don’t know, but I think it’s Dutch.

The beginning of the Friday English language program from Lithuania. This is old fashioned international broadcasting. Quite listenable, with a little throbbing as the radio waves bounce over the Atlantic. In general, countries that used be part of the eastern bloc are more likely to maintain an English language service to North America than the rest of Europe.

Everything you need to become a do-it-yourself Catholic apologist by simply utilizing your internet browser. A very slick promo.

9985 - WYFR (Family Radio)

Just a few seconds of Protestant profundity, prophets and persecution. It’s palpable.

That’s it for now. Again, if you have (or could create) some audio for this blog series please do email me. Also, those of you who have linked to this series on your sites and blogs, I thank you. I really appreciate it.

I still have an old Radio Shack TRF (Tuned RF stage) long-range AM radio. I always tweaked every radio I had to add SW 160 meter Ham band to it. Easy to do, just twist the tiny screws on the tuning 'box' to move the dial downward (you'll pick up AM 1200 on the spot marked 1100 on the dial). Go to the top of the band and find Ham's at 1800 kHz. One of the setscrews is major tuning, one is minor, and both only go one revolution (it's a trimmer capacitor).
From Detroit, we used to routinely listen to WLS and WCFL in Chicago, CHUM in Toronto, and stations in Cleveland, New York and St Louis. I picked up Hams in Washington DC and Louisiana.
You can extend the range of any AM radio by stringing a wire up (outside walls are better, outside the building is better yet but then you get into lightning protection). I used the drapery rod to hold a piece of thin 'magnet' wire (used for electromagnets - 36 or 40 ga.) and just wrap one end around the radio a few turns for 'electromagnetic coupling'.
BTW, the trimmer capacitor trick works to improve any radio.

Funny you should mention this... I used to DX the AM broadcast band when I was in my early teens... in fact I still have some of the old newsletters from the International Radio Club of America (IRCA) from back then. Scans are available for the asking. These would be from the early 1970s.

I also have some off-air recordings of shortwave pirate stations posted on my website (www.bradtheimpaler.com), you're free to link to them or copy them for your own amusement (just please credit where you got 'em... thanks).

I monitor the shortwave spectrum a lot, but being in Denver, the AM band is kinda clogged up for me... but if I go out into the tooleydickles, where the band is clearer, the night time is the right time! I'll bring some kind of recording gear on my next field trip into the boonies, so I can get you some DX from the other half of the US of A.

I have a shortwave weblog where I try to post reception reports on a monthly basis. Most of my receptions are in the shortwave band (3-30 mhz) but in April I logged a number of AM (mediumwave) stations. My weblog URL is entered into the URL field, or you can go to my featured articles page to easily find the reception report pages:
http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/2006/01/featured-articles.html

I like the "adventures in amplitude modulation" posts, and I added a link to it!